Safety official criticizes small escape route after 33 people perish in California boat fire: 'I was taken aback'

A safety official said she was "taken aback" while touring the Vision, a boat similar in structure to the Conception, where at least 33 people perished early Monday morning in a massive fire off the coast of California.

Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, expressed shock over the difficulties she faced while trying to access the emergency exit in the sleeping area aboard the vessel, particularly once the lights were shut off.

"You have to climb up a ladder and across the top bunk and then push a wooden door up," she told the Los Angeles Times. "It was a tight space. We couldn't turn the light on."

"It was very difficult," she added. "I was taken aback by that."

Homendy also told the outlet the bunk room only had one fire extinguisher, which was blocked by a trash can, a feature that she says does not meet Coast Guard standards.

The Vision is very similar in layout to the doomed Conception, although the former is slightly larger in size, the Los Angeles Times reports. Both boats, which are owned by the company Truth Aquatics, include a sleeping area below deck lined with multiple single and double bunk beds and a wooden staircase leading up to the main galley.

All 33 passengers, plus one crew member identified as 26-year-old Allie Kurtz, were in those bunks when the 75-foot commercial vessel went up in flames near Santa Cruz Island around 3:00 a.m. The fire spread quickly and blocked the narrow stairway to the upper decks and the emergency hatch, giving those below virtually no chance to escape, the Associated Press reports.

Five additional crew members, who were on the Conception's third deck when the fire broke out, were able to jump off the burning boat and seek help from a nearby recreational vessel named "The Grape Escape."

The bodies of 33 victims have since been recovered, while one person remained missing as of Wednesday, authorities said.

The investigation into the fire's origin remains ongoing.